Leaving a ship.

[Cyril killen]

Brill I will use this in future

[j.sabourn]

Re-reading some of these posts shows how different people view different things in different ways re written references . If I was looking for a person to perform a job in a business which I ran, I would rather go by word of mouth from his previous employers . When a seaman goes for a job he had at one time his discharge book as a reference. Today a report on his character and ability is not so readily avaiable , which I believe such was always not 100 z true as was open to maybe one persons judgement which could be personally impaired. Whenever I went for a job interview and they asked for references , 9 times out of 10 I would say my certificate is my reference , and if you want further assurance it is up to you to get in touch with my previous employers which no doubt they did. A friend of mine took a job from the pool on one of the big passenger jobs in Liverpool and they wanted to know what his father did for a living , he told them his father was not therefor a job and it was none of their business. That would of been my answer as well. There used to be a lot of snobbery at sea , but with political correctness also came shreds of good practice among the also rans. As I have always said I also believed you are only as good as your last job. JS.

[Doc Vernon]

Asides from Shipping JS brings to mind in the early Years , i recall most all of my Jobs were just a look at me, and experienced or not, most all the Employers just said , OK give you a trail period of Two Weeks , will teach you and that was that in like Flint!
And to be quite honest i never once was knocked back or told to leave, i seemed to adjust to most all sorts of Jobs !
But them were the days
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

The same with ships and seamen who could adjust to any type of ship given the time to do so.And no matter what anyone says no two ships are exactly the same , they may be sister ships but there are always differences no matter how small and insignificant they may appear to some. When I applied for a job in Newfoundland in 1966 they didn’t want hand written references they wanted 3 referees contact numbers, the family doctor was one , so knew I was on the short list when he told me they had been in contact with him. My wife had visions of fog mist falling snow and icebergs and refused to go in any case , so finished back at sea working out of Canada and never saw an iceberg. Really a true seaman shouldn’t have a family to contend with. Cheers JWS

[happy daze john in oz]

I have learned from experience that hands on experience is far better than all the resumes any one can produce.
Had a chef come to me when at the Uni, came from an agency who told me he had been working in Canada.
His references looked OK so we took him on.

Did not take long to realize he was not so much a cook as a cuckoo.

Then one day one of the lecturers spoke and said he knew him as the grill chef in a local hotel.
Apparently he had friends overseas who had sent a couple of references for him.

Left and got a job with another big company, last I heard he was in WA.

[j.sabourn]

Probably working in Hungry Jacks up the road. Will give him your regards John JS

PS once again funnily enough just cutting up old papers and that was what were handed out in NZ in 2014 in Dunedin in Hotel to sing at an Australian night , no offence was taken , but as said there were no seaboots around .
JS.

[KinghamsJ]

Re: Engineers.
Apart from one's discharge book being filled in referring to ability and character etc, was it also normal practice to receive a handwritten reference from the Chief Engineer?.

Regards from
Fouro.

I got a reference from 2 Captains on leaving ships,I had to request them.Got them in case lopking for shoreside employment.Came in handy .

[J Gowers]

Never got a reference from a chief Engineer , but did get a certificate of sea service, that was with Denholm and BP, very similar to the one shown earlier in this thread, still have every one 1974 to 1987. I then went offshore on various types of drilling rigs where I still got my discharge book filled in on each one, (required so I could renew my C/E Ticket) but no sea service cert. I renewed my ticket a few times after going offshore and the MCA accepted the sea time on rigs towards the renewal.

[Fouro]

Hi,

The Piper Alpha disaster happened in 1988, were you employed on oil rigs at this time?.

Regards from,
Fouro.

[happy daze john in oz]

When arriving home on UCL ships and opening my suit case I would often find that the only things from leaving the ship would be a few bath towels and on occasions bed sheets.
Never did find out how they got there.